Impetus and Inertia
by DreamScene
Summary: Between her mistrust and his willingness to do just about anything for her to notice him, they go back and forth on this attraction thing.


A/N: Saw this 50-sentence thing hanging around a few other fandoms and thought I'd give it a try. Let me know what you think of this version.

Feedback: Por favor.

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1. Walking

Tenten hears their steps on the concrete as they make their way the training grounds and prays the girls infatuated with Sasuke don't think he's actually accompanying her; it's just a horrible coincidence their paths crossed along the way.

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2. Waltz

Tenten ducks, strikes, jumps, dodges and hits to keep up with his rhythm as they spar.

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3. Wishes

Sasuke finds himself wondering what she's thinking about when she blows out the candles on her birthday cake.

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4. Wonder

She is cleaning up the blood from a cut on his shoulder when she sees the curse scar at the nape of his neck and tries to imagine what it felt like when he got it.

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5. Worry

Sasuke watches in horror as Tenten takes a steep dive from a thin branch on a tree the size of a skyscraper and dearly hopes she's unharmed the next time he sees her.

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6. Whimsy

When he passes by her, he casually slips an ornate dagger on the table top in front of her; she looks up to a nonchalant shrug she reads as "just felt like it."

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7. Wasteland

"I'm pretty sure she likes you," Naruto tells a sullen Sasuke after Tenten runs away at the sight of him yet again; "Really, I'm almost positive," he goes on, trying to get Sasuke out of the mess of a disaster zone the previously neat room had become after being rejected for the third time.

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8. Whiskey and Rum

Tenten spits out her drink when someone insinuates she's got something more going with Sasuke than just sparring during their training sessions and point to the missing piece of fabric of her shirt.

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9. War

Tenten is not happy about being assigned as Sasuke's punching bag, no matter what the Hokage said about him needing a partner, but at least it gives her an excuse to wage all out attacks on him.

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10. Weddings

She looks uncomfortable in a dress and heels while watching the bride walk down the aisle; "It's not that bad," he tells her and earns a disgusted look from her.

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11. Birthday

Sasuke looks older than his years and she's suddenly amazed at how young he really is when she looks at him above the warm glow of the candles on his birthday cake.

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12. Blessing

Gai is usually overprotective of his only female student, but when he notices the way Sasuke looks after Tenten, he gives the boy the official seal of approval.

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13. Bias

Tenten doesn't quite buy the story that Sasuke is back of his own will and looking to reenter the shinobi ranks again; she holds stubbornly to be belief that once a traitor, always a traitor.

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14. Burning

She runs her ass off trying to dodge his fire based attacks and even then, she finds he's singed her hair and clothes, the bastard.

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15. Breathing

They lie sprawled out on the grassy slope, panting from all the exertion in training all afternoon.

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16. Breaking

Training with Sasuke has made her unbelievable strong, but she doesn't notice until she spars with Neji and cracks two of his ribs in the span of fifteen minutes.

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17. Belief

He gets this look on his face sometimes that convinces her he's more fragile than he seems and it nearly makes her want to throw her arms around him.

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18. Balloon

It looks pretty harmless at first sight, but Sasuke quickly learns the little floating orbs Tenten made pack a mean punch when he is sent flying back against the rough surface of an fallen tree truck.

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19. Balcony

The party is too loud for her tastes, so when she looks for an escape to get some fresh air, he's already beaten her to it, leaning against a brick wall and staring up at the night sky.

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20. Bane

Sasuke hates that Hyuga bastard for taking up Tenten's attention when they were supposed to be planning for their upcoming mission.

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21. Quiet

They sit on a park bench as she hugs her knees and he stretches his arms on the back rest without saying a word.

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22. Quirks

For all his toughness out on the field, he's got awfully developed cooking skills, which aren't bad at all, just completely unexpected, Tenten thinks.

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23. Question

"Wouldn't be so bad, you know?" he says when she grumbles about dating and she frowns; "The hell are you talking about?" she shoots back.

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24. Quarrel

"Hey, asshole!" she snaps at the bandit who tries to pick a fight with a child she's determined to protect; Sasuke is close behind, ready to join in at any moment to help her.

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25. Quitting

"This is no time to be giving up!" she yells, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and smacks him around a few times to make him snap out of the hold the curse seal has on him.

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26. Jump

"Come on!" he yells at her, arms outstretched, ready to catch her; she hates him for making it seem like she's some damned princess in need of rescuing, no matter how injured she is at the moment.

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27. Jester

Sasuke isn't laughing when Naruto cracks jokes about how ironic it is that Konoha's most desirable bachelor isn't getting the time of day from the one girl he really wants.

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28. Jousting

The weapons she unseals from a couple of scrolls look downright medieval from their bulk and weight, making his eyes widen for a moment as Tenten demonstrates how to use them.

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29. Jewel

Despite being irreparably tomboyish, she wears jade earrings no matter what and he thinks they suit her well.

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30. Just

"This shit is not fair," Tenten grumbles when the council announces its decision on Sasuke's fate.

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31. Smirk

Geniuses never learn how to smile properly, Tenten thinks as she reflects on the way Sasuke's mouth curves when he's pleased about something.

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32. Sorrow

She comes across an old blade with the Uchiha family crest on it and traces the pattern with her fingers as her eyes suddenly tear up, making her vision blur.

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33. Stupidity

"Are you brain damaged?" Tenten screeches at Sasuke when he suddenly decides to hunt Itachi after hearing where the latest sighting took place; she has to remind him with four letter words that he's still on probation and nowhere near as strong as he needs to be when he's been stuck in the hospital for a week.

* * *

34. Serenade

Tenten accidentally takes a nap with her head between Sasuke's shoulder blades while they're traveling on the back of a hay cart; it doesn't help that he hums a tune that rumbles pleasantly in her ear, lulling her to sleep.

* * *

35. Sarcasm

"Yeah, I love being Sasuke-kun's punching bag," she coos to the jealous group of idiots in Sasuke's fanclub, "Because having him shoot fireballs at me and attempting to break my bones is totally my idea of fun."

* * *

36. Sordid

Naruto accidentally comes across them when Sasuke's on the ground and Tenten is straddling his waist, knife at his throat; "This-this isn't what it looks like!" she screeches in horror as she scrambles up to her feet, but the blonde is already walking away and casually mentioning how it was about time Sasuke was getting some.

* * *

37. Soliloquy

She says nothing, but listens as Sasuke talks about his past: family, Itachi, teammates, Orochimaru and anything else he wants to get off his chest.

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38. Sojourn

The morning after killing Itachi, he wakes up at dawn to find Tenten's arm draped over him; Sasuke relaxes and tries not to think about the day before as he moves closer to her.

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39. Share

Even though Tenten's starving, she's too tired to move as she leans heavily on the rough tree trunk on the training grounds; Sasuke rifles through his kit and after a moment, tosses something wrapped in plastic at her; "Here," he says simply.

* * *

40. Solitary

He's not really aware of his loneliness until she comes along - steely nerves, bad fashion, skinned knees, random expletives galore, bomb building freak - that he begins to notice how boring and quiet things are when she's not around.

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41. Nowhere

It's been over a year and he finds he's been trying to prove himself to her, but she never seems to believe him.

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42. Neutral

Tenten gradually goes from being automatically insulted and indignant to carefully schooling her features whenever someone mentions the possibility of her and Sasuke being an item.

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43. Nuance

There's a reason she's sitting on Sasuke's lap, and no, it's not by choice, although Tenten isn't exactly forced to be there.

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44. Near

It's only when they're sparring that their proximity allows him to learn little things about her like the number of freckles dotting her cheeks or how red her lower lip can get when she bites down hard enough on it.

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45. Natural

It's the progression of the way things are that Tenten and Sasuke wound up together, Sakura explains to Ino and Lee.

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46. Horizon

Sasuke sits beside Tenten on the cliffside, watching the sunset dip slowly under the endless stretch of ocean before them.

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47. Valiant

Her knees knock against one another as she tries to remain standing in front of Itachi to buy some time to a very determined and grateful Sasuke.

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48. Virtuous

When Sasuke refuses to return to Orochimaru, it's so downright noble Tenten can't doubt him and doesn't have it in her to distrust him as usual.

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49. Victory

"Give up?" Tenten asks as she successfully pins Sasuke down and holds a knife to his throat; he acknowledges with the slightest of nods.

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50. Defeat

Tenten extricates herself from him, throwing her fists up in triumph when she stands and it's a mistake since Sasuke takes advantage of her lack of concentration to tackle her and a very loud, "Shit!" is heard as they both fall down.


End file.
